Florida House Members Debate Jay-Z Lyrics, Get Pretty Close

Speaker of the House Dean Cannon listens to infinity percent more Jay-Z than you probably would have guessed.

​Today, a little insight into the day-to-day activities of the Florida House: While debating an amendment to HB 701, a proposed modification to the Florida Evidence Code, Tallahassee Democratic Rep. Alan Williams attempted, quite clumsily, to quote a line from Jay-Z's "99 Problems." Because there's something about an illegal search in the song, and the bill is about whether to exclude statements that disqualify witnesses from...

Whatever. A representative actually concluded remarks by saying "If you support Jay-Z, support this amendment. Thank you."

Curiously, Williams' statement was not the end of the Jay-Z talk. Standing to correct Williams was Speaker of the House Dean Cannon, who might be a little cooler than we gave him credit for this morning, when we suggested he should have been given a urine cup as a retirement gift.

"It's an unspoken rule of Chair Aubuchon that if you're going to invoke Jay-Z, you must get the lyrics correct," Cannon said. "I'm not sure Jay-Z would support this amendment."

The Washington Free Beacon, which posted the video ("Roc-A-Fella Republican"), points out that neither congressman is entirely correct, but both were really, really close, which really matters a whole lot when it comes to debating small tweaks to small tweaks to Florida legal statues.

If you like this story, consider signing up for our email newsletters.